


I Wanna Fall In Love Here, Andrewww?

by Sweetsiwicki



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: AU, Angst, Chaptered, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn, gandrew - Freeform, i'll add more characters as the story unfolds, shane and friends - Freeform, very obviously an au almost nothing about youtube is involved in this i just love the squad sm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-08 14:47:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16431470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetsiwicki/pseuds/Sweetsiwicki
Summary: Andrew checks in a sad looking blonde boy into the hotel he works at, and finds him weirdly captivating. Garrett's housing and family situation are in shambles, and he's too proud to ask his friends for help, so he uses his sister's discount to stay at a hotel for cheap. They quickly find that they click well. Slow burn, please be patient with me!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay hi i'm back again here's my attempt at a chaptered Gandrew fic. I'm the desk manager at a hotel, and i thought it would be interesting to see an AU pan out in that kind of setting since i know how it works i guess? Please bear with me I know it's kinda a slow start, I'm trying my best <3

“Hi, I have a reservation for Watts?” a voice rung out uncertainly.

I looked up at the person in front of me. Tall, very tall actually. Broad shoulders, strong jaw, messy blonde hair, and round framed glasses. His eyes were rimmed red and bloodshot behind them, a worn out backpack was slung over his shoulders and a medium suitcase sat next to him.

I typed the name into the computer and pulled up Watts, Garrett. “Hello, I’ll just need a credit card and an ID.” He handed them to me, I glanced at them and then at the screen and noticed it was an employee discount rate. “And I’ll need the employee card or friends and family form for the discount.”

“Can I email it to you to have it printed? I don’t have access to a printer,” he said, looking away awkwardly and pulling his phone out of his back pocket and unlocking it. 

“Of course, here’s my email,” I said quietly, writing out the address on a sticky note and handing it to him over the counter.

He quickly typed it in and sent it over; I pulled it from my email and printed it. Looks like he was the brother of an employee, she worked at a Marriott Resort in Northern California. Expiration was good, I signed it and set it aside.

“Thank you so much, and we have you here for three weeks at $39 a night, correct?” I asked politely. I hated this overly polite script. Marriott had standards, and we had to follow them.

“Yeah, and I might need to extend that once the time comes closer. I’m not sure yet, is that okay?” 

“Yeah of course, just come back and let us know at any time and we’ll be able to do that for you,” I smiled, getting him checked in and making his keys. I handed those and his card and ID back to him. “Breakfast is served here in the lobby from 6-9 during the week and 7-10 on the weekends. Wi-Fi is complimentary, the network is TowneplaceSuites with no password. Pool, hot tub, and gym are here on the first floor and elevators are right through the doorway here. My name is Andrew, please let me know if you have any other questions or need anything while you’re here.”

“Thanks, Andrew,” he smiled, glancing at his keys and walking away. I had put him on the first floor, end of the hallway.

I glanced at the clock. 9 pm, damn I was ready to go home. Two more hours. I can do it. I sat back down on the barstool I had taken from the breakfast area and glanced down at my phone and saw a text from my friend Gabbie.

G: hey Andrew, you off at 11?

Oh god. It was Friday, she probably wanted me to go out with her and her friends. I usually managed to avoid it, maybe I can again this week.

A: Yeah, then I plan on going to bed.

Be blunt. That’s usually what got through to Gabbie. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb, my anxiety always got bad when I sent a risky text and I found that putting my phone on DND helped. I could check if the notification was there at any time I felt comfortable to do so, and the fact that I wasn’t being alerted of it made me feel even better. I could do it when I was ready.

My night continued like that for another hour and a half before I got a call from room 114. Oh, Garrett Watts.

“Guest services, how may I help you?”

“Hi, um. I’m trying to get my PlayStation hooked up and I can’t get the input button to do anything. Would someone be able to help? Or do you know what to do?” he asked, sounding a little sleepy.

“Oh, I can come help you. It’s a little weird,” I frowned, holding back a sigh. Maintenance had left at 8 and wasn’t here so I was gonna have to do it.

“Thank you, I’m so sorry if you’re busy,” he apologized.

“Not at all, I’m happy to help.”

“Thanks again.”

With that, we hung up the phone. I grabbed my key ring and put my “be back soon” sign up on the counter and walked down to his room. I knocked three times and said “guest services.”

He opened the door almost immediately, standing in a white tank top and black sweatpants. He smiled, and gestured for me to come in.

I walked past the kitchenette over to the TV and saw the PlayStation sitting on the stand next to it. I went around to the back of the stand to look at the cables.

“Sorry to bother you so late,” he apologized again. He sounded so nervous.

“No problem, I’m happy to help and it’s part of what I’m here for,” I insisted. I saw the cable box and the gray cable plugged into it.

“So do you like working here?” he asked, sitting down on the bed behind me.

“I do, yeah. I like my coworkers and my boss is cool so that’s always a plus. And I like socializing with all the people I meet here.” That was actually all true. I don’t really hang out with people outside of work, the occasional exception being Gabbie and her friends. I have social anxiety, and I don’t like hanging out with people. But I know I still need to be around people in some way, and I found that this way worked for me. I made decent money and I got human interaction, even if I had to be a little fake or forced sometimes.

“That’s cool, my sister really likes her job with Marriott, too,” Mr. Watts smiled.

“Oh, what does she do for work?” I asked, remembering she was at a resort.

“She’s a makeup artist and aesthetician for the spa at some fancy beach resort. She loves it, and the discount is pretty handy.”

“Oh that’s awesome, and no kidding. $39 a night for a hotel room is a sick deal.” I found the HDMI cable for the game system plugged in already, made sure the power was plugged in. I stood up and grabbed the remote and pressed input.

“Yeah, definitely.” His eyes glanced downwards.

The input changed, and I powered on the PlayStation and it started up.

“Oh awesome, thank you so much. Now it’s time to play Spider-Man until 6 in the morning,” he grinned. “What’d you do by the way?”

“I pulled out the gray cable from the cable box, when that’s plugged in it won’t let you change the input or anything because it’s pretty much stuck on cable. Our TV’s are kinda old, so once you do that the remote will let you change it. If you wanna go back to cable you’ll just have to plug the gray cable back in,” I explained.

“Oh, cool thank you,” he smiled.

“You’re welcome, Mr. Watts,” I replied.

“Please don’t ever call me that again, just call me Garrett. Too formal,” he laughed. He had a great smile. It stretched widely across his cheeks, complimented by his sharp jawline.

“Alright Garrett, have a good evening. Let me know if you need anything else, I leave in about 15 minutes but our overnight person, Deidra, comes in to take over so you can call anytime.”  
“Thanks again, have a nice night too.” We walked over to the door and I smiled at him, turned and walked away.

I liked him, he was nice. I got back to the desk and remembered that Gabbie had probably texted back. I pulled my phone out, finally checking it and seeing two texts from her.

G: Come on Andrewwwwwww you never do anything.

G: Ugh. Fine. We’ll be at Scotty’s house if you wanna join.

Yeah, no thanks. I wanted to be nice to my liver this weekend, especially since i work again tomorrow at 3. I put my phone back in my pocket, finished closing out my shift and smiled at Deidra when she walked in. Deidra was awesome, she was a short, blonde 35 year old woman who was incredibly friendly and loved her three kids more than anything. I got along with her well.

“Hey Andrew, how are ya?” she asked, taking off her jacket and setting her purse in the back office.

“Good, ready for bed,” I replied, grabbing my deposit money and walking back there with her. I dropped the cash in the safe and signed my name on the deposit log while she clocked in.

“I bet. Busy night?” 

“Not particularly, today just dragged.” We walked back up to the front.

“That sucks. Anyone interesting check in tonight?” She asks me that every night. As the overnight desk agent, she was the one who got to deal with the real weird guests in the middle of the night. That’s when they all come out, I guess.

“Not really. We have a new super long term stay, though. Room 114, he’s here for three weeks and possibly extending. He seems nice enough, he wants to be called by his first name since the other option was too formal.” I giggled at the memory, remembering the startled face he pulled when I called him Mr. Watts.

“Cool, at least he seems like he’s going to be an easy long term stay then,” she shrugged, logging into the computer.

“Yeah. Well I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I waved as I walked out the door.

She waved back and I went outside, only to see Garrett on the bench out front. He was smoking a cigarette and scrolling through what looked like Twitter.

“Oh hey Andrew, you off?” Garrett asked, looking up from the screen.

“Yeah, how did I miss you coming through the lobby?” I asked, genuinely wondering when he had come out. 

“You guys have side entrances and you put me two doors down from one. I went out through there and realized there were no ashtrays so I walked around and came up front to use them. Animals shouldn’t be choking on cigarette butts,” he frowned. That was kinda cute of him to say.

...Cute?

“I agree, and thanks for not throwing them on the ground.”

“No problem. You wanna smoke?”

I didn’t smoke. I tried a few times and didn’t like it, but something compelled me to want to talk to this guy.

“Sure,” I shrugged, sitting down next to him. He handed me a cigarette and the lighter.

“So how long’ve you been working here?” Garrett asked, taking a drag.

“Almost a year now, I got hired right after Halloween last year,” I replied, inhaling the cigarette to the best of my ability. I exhaled, flinching slightly at how hot the smoke was. Garrett didn’t seem to notice.

“Nice, at least you like it here,” he said.

“I do. What do you do for work?”

“I’m a vet tech assistant, the office I work at is about 10 minutes from here so it’s convenient,” he smiled.

“So you like it there?”

“I do, I love it actually. I love animals and getting to work with them and seeing so many of them every day. They’re all just little sweeties,” he explained, a huge grin spread across his face.

“That’s really cool, is that why you’re staying at the hotel? For work?” I asked. I realized I had never asked him what brought him here, which was something we were supposed to ask every guest.

“My uh, housing situation is nonexistent right now. I don’t make quite enough to have an apartment on my own in LA, but I can afford this with my sister’s discount until I either start making more or find a roommate. Especially since breakfast is free so that helps me cut out the cost of one meal a day.” His eyes went downcast as he talked, and I was worried I had struck a nerve.

“Well you’re welcome here for as long as we have room to keep you,” I half joked.

We sat on the bench for another 15 minutes, finishing our cigarettes and talking about movies and shows we liked, finding out we actually had a lot in common. I found out he was 24 years old, he loves scary movies and Harry Potter and Marvel, he thinks bugs are cool and haunted houses are fun to him. He was definitely an interesting character, but one I could see myself being friends with.

Something I did notice, though, was that I felt almost instantly comfortable around him. He had a way of making everything feel light-hearted and less anxiety-inducing like most social interactions beyond the workplace are. It was a good feeling.

“You should get going home, you look exhausted,” Garrett said, smiling sadly. He ran his long fingers through his dusty blonde hair to pull it out of his face and adjusted his glasses.

“I am. But I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I work until 5 but I should be back by 5:30.”

“Cool. I get in at 3 and work until 11, so I’ll see you then.”

“Have a good night, Andrew,” Garrett called as I stood up and waved goodbye.

I reached my car and sat in the driver’s seat. I wasn’t sure why, but the way Garrett said my name sounded really nice and I wanted to hear it again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so I plan on updating this every Saturday until it's finished! And I 100% plan on finishing this slow burn of a story, no worries. I write all of these chapters at work since I work a mix of days and overnights, and writing keeps me awake. I love you guys for reading <3

Work was going to be boring today, and I knew it the second I pulled into the parking lot and saw that almost no one was using it. It was going to be a long, boring evening, I sighed to myself. But then I remembered, Garrett said he was going to be back around 5:30 so at least I had that to look forward to. 

I locked my car, and walked through the automatic doors to hallway leading behind the desk. I saw that Marina, our morning desk girl, was standing there looking ready to get out of there. She grinned at me as I walked up, flipping her curly, mahogany hair over one shoulder.

“Good morning, Mr. Desk Manager,” she smiled. I cringed slightly. I had recently gotten promoted to desk manager a couple of weeks ago and the girls were all giving me crap about it. They knew I didn’t like to be in the spotlight.

“Morning? It’s almost 3 pm,” I laughed. 

“Well it’s morning for you, you wake up at like 1 pm.”

“Excuse you, I woke up at 12 today.”

“Oooh, so much earlier.” She laughed alongside me, walking to the back with me to the timeclock. 

“It is, 12 pm is perfectly reasonable for me.” I crossed my arms and pouted jokingly, waiting for her to finish clocking out so I could clock myself in.

We traded spots, I clocked in, and she grabbed her purse and waved goodbye to me. As she walked out, I grabbed my nametag from the little bucket of tags we had in the back and clipped it to my shirt pocket. The uniforms here kinda sucked. It was a burgundy button up shirt, the pants and shoes were up to our discretion so I always went with black jeans and my black Adidas shoes. But the button up just felt stiff and uncomfortable, and I hated having the full on long sleeves so I always rolled them up to just below my elbow.

I walked out to the front desk and checked our arrivals. We had a whole 8 people due to check in, I was right about work being boring tonight. Working here was actually kinda slow, we were an extended stay hotel so anyone who stayed with us was usually at least 5 days or longer, meaning we didn’t always have a ton of people checking in on the same day.

“Hey Andrew, how are things?” I heard the smooth, slightly accented voice of the assistant general manager call over to me as he made himself clear. Alex was the coolest, I really loved working with him.

“Hey Alex, I’m good. Looks like a boring night.”

“Yeah, the whole weekend is going to be pretty slow. Now that it’s October we’re slowing down a lot, no more vacation travel.”

“Looks like it. What time are you here until?”

“Probably 6 or 7, I have some stuff to catch up on in the back. And if it’s slow enough I’ll come up and we can talk about some of the responsibilities that Nicole wants me to hand off to you, now that we have a desk manager to split the workload with me.”

“That sounds good, I doubt it’ll get busy,” I joked.

“Well I’ll be in the back, holler if you need anything,” he said, his almond shaped eyes crinkling as he smiled.

I held my place at the desk for a couple of hours, I checked three of our eight arrivals in and I waited for 5:30 to come around so I could see Garrett walking through.

Why was I so eager to see Garrett?

“Alright, so,” Alex started making his way up to the desk from the back office, “new responsibilities.”

“Yes, lay it on me.”

“So Nicole wants you to start dealing with all of the market ordering, which includes snacks and drinks and medicine. You’re going to use MarketBasket, which I have already set up for you. You’ll also be ordering for breakfast, and any desk amenities that we need,” Alex started off. Just then, the front doors opened.

“Hi, Andrew! Let me go get changed and then we can talk!” Garrett damn near shouted, a massively goofy grin spread across his sharp cheeks as he all but sprinted across the lobby to get to his room.

“New guest?” Alex asked with a slight smirk.

“Yeah, he checked in last night and took a liking to me I guess,” I shrugged.

“Well that’s good, how long is he here for?”

“Three weeks, possibly extending as the time approaches.”

“Glad you made a new friend.” The way he said that was obviously joking, but I knew I actually had made a friend.

Alex and I continued talking about my new responsibilities as desk manager, and Garrett came back out to the desk. He wore a white tank top underneath an unbuttoned lobster shirt, and the same gray sweatpants he was wearing when I helped him with his TV last night.

“Hey Andrew!”

I felt my face grow warm when he said my name. That did not go unnoticed by Alex, who smirked even harder at me.

“Oh shoot, I’m sorry were you guys talking?” Garrett asked, frowning slightly.

“No, we were just finishing up. I’m getting ready to head out. You all set for the night Andrew?” Alden asked, grinning.

“I think. I’ll text if you need anything.” Alex, PLEASE, just go home already I don’t need this right now.

"Alright Andrew, have a good night." With that, he walked into the back office to get himself ready to leave. I felt myself able to breathe again, and my shoulders loosened once the awkward feeling settled and went away.

"You okay?" Garrett asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. The way that his voice went up a bit at the end was nice.

"Yeah, just been a long shift so far."

"You just got here at 3?"

"I got promoted recently, so Alex's been kinda cramming my brain with new info and responsibilities."

"Ah, so that's Alex?" He adjusted his round glasses as they slipped down his nose. "What does he do here?

"He's the Assistant General Manager, he's pretty cool."

"I dig his accent, where is he from?"

"His family is Cuban, and he grew up in Southern Florida. Moved out here about a year ago with his wife and kids," I explained, smiling a bit to myself. It was sweet how much that man cared for his family. They were always priority.

"That's cool, I haven't been to Florida in so long. Have you been to Florida, Andrew?"

"N-no, I haven't." God dammit the way he said my name when he asked questions was adorable. I hated it.

"I wanna go again sometime, Harry Potter World is a thing now and I need that in my life."

We ended up talking for the next couple hours as literally nothing happened at work, about movies and music and Harry Potter and TV shows and haunted houses. I wasn't super into all of the haunted stuff, but he seemed to like it and watching him light up as he talked about how he and his friends explored haunted places sometimes made me smile.

"So do you work tomorrow?" Garrett asked as he glanced at the clock. It was a little past 8 pm now.

"No, I have tomorrow and Monday off, actually. Why?"

"Well, my friends are having a movie night and I was kinda wondering if you wanted to come? Since we seem to like the same stuff. I'm sorry if that's weird because you're at work or whatever, I just thought it'd be cool if you came and we got to hang out outside of work." He was rambling, words spilling from his mouth as a slight blush rose to his cheeks.

"Is it tonight?"

"Yeah, he said at 10 but you don't get off until 11 but that'd be fine with me."

I thought about it for a moment. I hadn't really hung out with anyone who wasn't my roommate, Caleb, Gabbie, or a couple of my coworkers in a long time. Maybe getting out with a newfound friend wasn't a bad idea. The asocial side of me started panicking a bit at the prospect of meeting more new people, but the side of me that enjoyed Garrett's conversation and company was just happy to hang out with him.

Garrett eventually went back to his room at around 9 to go lay down for a bit before going to his friend's house. I decided to work on some of the stuff Alex had left for me, completing a couple of items on his to-do list. I started closing my shift around 10:45, and pulled out my phone to text Caleb that I would be out late with a new friend. Gabbie would probably lose her mind if she knew that I was finally hanging out with someone, and it wasn't her.

"Hey Andrew!" I heard a female voice call. I looked up and saw Deidra walking up to the door to get into the office.

"Oh hey, what's up?" I asked as she walked in and to the back.

"You know, the usual. Any plans this weekend?" she asked, setting her stuff down and clocking in.

"Actually, yeah. I'm going to a movie night with a new friend I made, I'm kinda excited for it."

"That's great, it'll be good for you to hang out with someone other than Caleb or the occasional outing with Alex."

She was right. I only ever really hung out with my roommate and Alex. He would invite me and our maintenance tech and his kid to go bowling or to go see movies with him and his family. I loved it though, his two toddler daughters were the sweetest and his wife made him so happy.

I closed out my shift, clocked out, and went to the front of the desk to see Garrett waiting there for me. He was still wearing his lobster shirt, but this time with a pair of black pants instead of sweatpants.

"Hey Andrew, wanna drive separate or take my car? Or yours?" he asked.

"We can take my car and I'll just drive you back here after, no worries." I led him out to the parking lot to my car, the drive over to his friend's house was comfortable and quiet. I let him play the music, and we listened to Frank Ocean the whole way over. I wasn't opposed to that, I liked Frank as well.

"So Shane, Ryland, Morgan, and Drew. They're all kinda a lot, but I love them and I think you will too," Garrett said as we pulled up to the house.

"What do you mean by a lot?" I asked, feeling some nervousness creep into my chest.

"You're gonna love them, but when we're all in a group we're kinda loud and out there. I want you to be comfortable, though, and I think they're going to like you a lot!"

I smiled nervously as we got out of the car and walked up to the house. Garrett pulled the door handle open and I stepped in behind him cautiously. I heard a movie playing already, I couldn't tell what it was. On the large taupe sectional there was a blonde girl tucked into the corner with a blanket wrapped around her, a well built guy with reddish hair and an oversized robe sat next to her with a blanket over his lap. Next to him, a slender guy with a buzz cut and sharp looking teeth shared the blanket and on his other side a guy with long dark hair and glasses reclined on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table.

"Hey guys!" Garrett shouted over the movie. "I brought a new friend I met, his name is Andrew and he's really great."

I blushed at the compliment and turned my head down slightly, trying to hide my red cheeks.

"Cool, we have plenty of popcorn to go around," the girl grinned, peeking her head over the blanket a bit more and smiling behind her glasses.

"Is this someone you're trying to fuck? Because you can't do it on the couch," the guy in the robe sighed, sounding somewhat sarcastic and scoffing.

"SHANE!" Garrett shrieked, looking mortified.

Oh, so that was Shane. I'm assuming the guy sharing the blanket was Ryland, his boyfriend and then Drew and Morgan.

"What?"

"Don't embarrass him either!"

"Sorry, I'm Shane and welcome to my mansion," he joked, spreading his arms wide and grinning. "Thanks for coming to movie night though, we haven't had anyone outside the five of us in a long time."

"Garrett, does he like Harry Potter?" Drew asked, tilting his head up to look over at us as we took off our shoes and made ourselves comfy next to each other on the remaining space of the sectional.

"Uhh, sorta?" I answered uncertainly. I liked it, but I wasn't Garrett-level obsessed with it.

"As long as we don't have to listen to you talk about it," Shane shrugged.

"No, I'll leave that to Garrett."

"Well let's finish this movie, there's only 10 minutes left and then we'll start a new one," Ryland suggested, breaking up the Harry Potter talk to Shane's relief as Shane sighed dramatically and whispered "thank god" and did a faux hair flip.

We sat back and finished the current movie in a comfortable silence. During that silence, I couldn't help but be hyper-aware of the fact that Garrett was pressed right up against my side and his warmth was the nicest thing I had felt in my chest in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go follow me on tumblr @sweetsiwicki! Chances are I'll follow back and I'm always looking for more Shane and Friends content to follow <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry I’m on vacation this week so I almost spaced posting this sadly short little chapter. If y’all are curious about what I’m listening to while writing this is the playlist I made for this story and it changes sometimes too. https://open.spotify.com/user/lavndrrr/playlist/7ekEtY0V3oiAbXnAFY4DHj?si=rxVB7e7jQIipPx0eZ5wG7A

I had settled into the comfortable quietness of movie night at Shane’s house and was hyper aware of Garrett’s right side body that was completely pressed against me. Our hands were awkwardly captured between legs and the backs of them were brushing every time Garrett let out a giggle or moved in any way. Every brush felt like a little jolt of electricity and it heated up the back of my hand every time.

The movie was finally over, and I glanced at my watch. It was a little after 1:30 in the morning. Ryland stretched his arms wide as he stood up with his glass to get a refill and Drew yawned, loudly and exaggeratedly.

“Anyone up for another movie?” he asked as he finished yawning.

Garrett whipped around to look at me and his face was surprisingly close at the change of angle.

“You wanna watch another or are you calling it a night?” he asked softly. I could barely feel his warm breath on my temple as he spoke.

“I’m game for one more,” I shrugged, not wanting this closeness to stop just yet.

“Can we watch a ghost movie?” Morgan asked, popping her head out of her blankets. I honestly thought she was asleep.

“Yes!” Garrett and Drew both yelled at the same time.

“Oh no wait I didn’t bring Benjamin, he likes scary movies,” garrett frowned.

“Benjamin?” I asked, confused. Was that another friend?

“Ugh, no I’m glad you didn’t bring that... thing,” shane scoffed.

“He is not a thing! He’s a little sweetie!”

“Benjamin is this creepy realistic doll at Garrett’s place. We bought it online for a haunted doll game last year but never ended up using it so he kept it as a joke,” drew explained to me as shane and Garrett kept arguing over the ‘little sweetie’.

“Oooh, yeah no thank you,” I laughed. If that’s Garrett’s thing, fine. But not for me.

“See! Andrew said no thank you to Benjamin!” Shane exclaimed, pointing at me and nearly jumping up.

“Andrewww! You haven’t even met Benjamin!”

“Will I get the honor of doing so?” I asked jokingly.

“Yes! He’s in my hotel room.”

“Garrett what if housekeeping sees him at some point?” 

“Garrett oh my god they’re gonna see that and think you’re like a crazy homeless guy who found his way into a hotel,” Shane gasped.

“Noooo!”

My stomach hurt from how hard I was laughing. I had known these people for three hours, and Garrett for two days, and I was more comfortable with them than I ever had been with any of my other friends. 

“So how long are you at the hotel again Garrett?” Shane asked as we flipped through Netflix, looking for a new movie.

“I’m there for 3 weeks total, and my landlord is going to relocate me in that time,” he explained, shifting a bit uncomfortably.

“That sucks. At least you made a friend,” Ryland shrugged, gesturing over to me.

“Yeah, Andrew’s great. I’m surprised we clicked so quickly, we met last night,” Garrett said with a soft smile on his sharp cheeks.

“Uhhh hey, I’m gonna step outside and smoke a joint. Anyone wanna come?” Drew nearly cut Garrett off, which Garrett actually looked thankful for.

“I’ll go.” Ryland stood up and kissed Shane on the temple, grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around his shoulders. He went over to the door and slipped on his “Guccy” slides, waiting for the rest of whoever to stand up.

“You wanna come?” Garrett asked me, startling me. 

“Uh, yeah sure.”

We stood up together and the four of us went outside to sit on the ground next to the pool in a small circle. I was in between Ryland and Garrett and across from Drew. Drew pulled an Altoids case out of his pocket and popped it open to reveal half a dozen small, neatly rolled joints. He picked one out, pulled a lighter from his other pocket, and lit up.

“So how long have you been at that hotel?” Ryland asked me as Drew handed him the joint.

“Oh, about a year now. I started out as a desk agent and got promoted to desk manager last month so that was cool.”

“That’s awesome. So what do you really like to do? Obviously you like more than going to work.”

“I don’t do a whole lot. I love video editing and filmmaking but it’s hard to make a career around it. I mess with it casually.”

“That’s funny actually, Shane is super into that stuff, too. You guys should nerd out about it together sometime!” 

“For sure,” I smiled. That actually sounded really nice. I’d love to have a friend to talk about ‘geek’ stuff like that with. 

The joint got passed to me, and I took two hits before passing it off to Garrett. We passed it around in relative silence. I could feel my knees bumping against Garrett’s thighs and my high mind was making me overly aware of it. More so than earlier on the couch, I think. I enjoyed looking at Garrett, though. The image of him smoking a joint was attractive, one that would be burned into my memory.

We finished the joint and I stood up shakily, feeling a bit light headed. Light headed but really good, no more anxiety either. That was my favorite side effect of weed, the whole anxiety thing is calmed for a while. Garrett saw me shake as I stood and placed one hand on my shoulder and the other under my opposing elbow. 

“You good?” he murmured, glancing down at me.

“Y-yeah, just stood up too quickly I think.”

He smiled at me and gently removed his hands from me as I stood up fully. We walked back inside the house and I felt like I was walking on a cloud, between the weed and the lingering warmth on my shoulder from where Garrett’s hand had been. We settled into our old positions on the couch quietly as Shane and Morgan chatted away. 

“Alright you damn stoners, ready for the movie?” Shane asked, picking up the remote and pointing it at the TV.

He pressed play and the next two hours was spent with me forcing myself to stay awake and being hyper aware of everything. From Garrett’s breaths, to his recurring giggling during funny bits, to the fact that he had his arm over the back of the couch and I could smell his fucking deodorant from how close we were sitting. I breathed my way through the movie and blinked rapidly when Ryland turned the lights on to adjust my eyes. 

“I’m ready to go to bed,” Drew said with a stretch. “Shane I’m staying the night here I don’t wanna drive.”

Shane shrugged and tossed him the remote for the TV. “It was great to meet you Andrew, you should come by more often. Ryland told me you’re into video editing and shit and I have a huge degree project I’m working on. I’d love to sit down and look at it with you if you’re down.”

“Oh, yeah of course that sounds dope. I’d love to do that.”

“Cool, have Garrett give you my number and text me so we can look over the footage I have.” He smiled warmly. “I’m going to bed, have a good night guys.”

We waved as he and Ryland walked upstairs. Morgan stayed on the couch and glanced at Drew. “Sister sleepover?” she asked hopefully.

“Duh, go make more popcorn I’ll look for a new movie,” Drew grinned.

“We’ll see you guys later,” Garrett said with a wave, and I followed him outside as Morgan jumped up to run to the kitchen.

We walked out to Garrett’s car through Shane’s crappy driveway. I let myself in to the passenger’s side seat as he turned the car on and plugged his phone in. He turned on Frank Ocean and we drove back to the hotel.

“I had a lot of fun, Andrew,” Garrett smiled sweetly as we pulled into the parking lot and he turned his car off. “Where’s your car? I’ll walk you over.”

I nodded, my mouth going dry when he said my name. People don’t use names very often it feels like, and hearing Garrett’s voice speak it was nice. We stepped out of the car and walked over to mine. We turned to face each other as I nervously pressed the fob for my car.

“I had a lot of fun too, we gotta hang out more.”

“You said you have today and tomorrow off? Do you wanna come by and play video games for a while?” Garrett asked. His eyes got big and nervous as he said that. “If you want. We don’t have to come here since it’s your work or we can wait to chill again.”

“Why don’t you come over tomorrow? You can meet my roommate, Caleb. You’ll like him,” I offered. I would like to play video games with Garrett but I didn’t want to be at my own work if I didn’t have to be. He can play video games at my house.

“Oh that sounds great! What time?”

“Whenever we’re awake, seeing that it’s past 3:30.” Wow. I hadn’t stayed awake or out that late on purpose in a long time. 

“That’s good. I guess one of us will text whenever we’re awake,” he smiled, pushing his fingers through his messy dusty colored hair.

“Well have a good night, Garrett.”

“You too, Andrew. Please text me when you get home so I know you’re safe?”

I nodded, and we waved as I sat in my car. I watched him go in the building as I turned on Drake. My body felt warm and I couldn’t wait to hang out with Garrett again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on tumblr at sweetsiwicki I update this story once a week but I’m active there every day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Updating a day early because I was in such a good mood. I accepted a job offer at a new hotel for more money and I'm so excited about it :') please enjoy this slightly lengthy chapter of dialogue and gay shit. Here’s the playlist I made for this fic :) https://open.spotify.com/user/lavndrrr/playlist/7ekEtY0V3oiAbXnAFY4DHj?si=HUmDZEZtSWqzReMqYdSy6w

The next 10 days consisted of a routine I was happily falling into. I had been working 12-8 or 3-11, depending on where they needed me. If I was 12-8, Garrett and I had gotten into the habit of talking from 5:30 until 8, then smoking joints and the occasional cigarette in his car (“I swear I’m trying to quit, Andrew! I’m just stressed and I only have like one a day!”) for hours sometimes. If I was 3-11, we would talk from when he got back from work until my shift was over then share a joint or a cigarette in his car and talk and listen to music until after midnight. When I had a day off, he was working and we’d just text.

I was working 12-8 today, Renee was my 3-11 and I loved working with her. She was two years older than me with shoulder length black hair, large gauges and glasses. She and I always managed to joke around at work and Garrett loved her, too. He had taken up talking to her when I wasn’t there and when we both were there, we just had a good time talking.  
I was standing at one computer, Renee at the other and I was anxiously tapping my foot on the floor as my eyes glanced over at the clock every 4 seconds. I could feel Renee staring at me from the corner of my eye, smirking at me.

“Andrew, chill. It’s 5:20. Garrett will be here in like 10 minutes,” Renee sighed, laughing a bit.

“Who says I’m waiting for Garrett?”

“Your body language and the fact that it’s almost 5:30. I know you like him but chill.”

“Well yeah I like him, he’s a good friend.”

“Okay, whatever you say hon.”

I rolled my eyes. I loved my hourly staff, and even though I was their direct manager, they always teased me. It didn’t help that I was the youngest manager on the team and the only guy on the desk. Alex was the assistant GENERAL Manager so he wasn’t even up front very often. Just me and my girls. I loved them all, but Renee is the one person I could see myself hanging out with effortlessly, and I planned on asking her if she wanted to smoke with us. I knew she walked home and always refused a ride because she felt bad about me coming back to work to get her but I worried for her safety and I know neither Garrett nor I minded ensuring she got home safely. 

“Wanna smoke with Garrett and me tonight? I know he wants to hang out too. We usually chill in the car for a while so once you’re off we can smoke and take you home,” I asked, side eyeing her.

“You sure you’re okay taking me home?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it. We wanna hang out with you anyway.”

‘We’. When did that start happening?

“Then sure, I love hanging out with you two.”

I smiled and nodded firmly, and at that moment I heard the loud clunking of Garrett’s boots as he traipsed through the automatic doors. His face lit up when he saw the both of us.  
“Renee! Holy smokes I’m so happy both of you are here, that’s awesome!” He adjusted his round frames as they slid down his nose.

“Yeah! It’s good to see you too.” Renee grinned. 

“I hope it’s okay, but I invited Renee to smoke with us after her shift tonight. She’s off at 11 and we usually hang out until way past then.”

“Of course, the more the merrier,” Garrett replied. “Let me go change out of my adult clothes, I’ll be right back.”

With that, he walked off to his room and left Renee and I at the desk. She turned over to me, full body, and put her weight in one hip as she crossed her arms and cocked her eyebrow at me.  
“He’s a good friend, huh?” she smirked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied stoically, messing around with the computer to make myself look busy.

“The way your eyes fucking melted when he walked in was the most precious thing. You have it bad for him, I know it.”

“I do not.” A hot flush of red flooded into my cheeks as I said it, only further proving her point. 

“You do. I know you Andrew; we’ve been friends for like nine months, way before you even got promoted.”

I froze, knowing she was right. These past two weeks have been spent with me not wanting to fully admit to anyone, let alone myself, that I did have a little bit of a crush on our friendly long term guest in room 114. 

“Fine, but don’t tell anyone. I’m not ready and you’re the only person who even knows I’m bi.” 

“You know that our secrets go to the grave.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath to try and relax the tension starting to build in my chest. Garrett came walking back out as I exhaled, looking much more relaxed. He wore his white tank top and a pair of dark orange pants. He looked like a video game character, it was cute.

The three of us had a good conversation, only getting interrupted a handful of times. Fall and winter really were slow season, it sucked but after the insanely busy summer we had I’m ready for calm. 8 pm rolled around and I went back to clock out.

“Alright I’m out of here for the night, see you in a couple of hours?” I asked Renee.

“For sure.”

“Call or text if you need me.”

She nodded and shooed me away towards Garrett, who was waiting outside on the bench smoking a cigarette already. I waved and walked out, turning away.

“Ready? I was hungry, wanna get dinner?” Garrett asked, putting out the last few hits of cigarette on the sidewalk below him.

“Actually yeah, that sounds great.” I felt my stomach rumble at the mention of food, food sounded good right now. 

“Legendary. Let’s roll,” he grinned, standing up and twirling his keys around his fingers as we started walking to his car. 

I laughed at that, following suit and nearly skipping over to the car. We got in and he turned it on, plugging his phone in too.

“Whatcha feeling?” he asked.

“Whatever you want, I’m not picky.”

He nodded, and we pulled out of the parking lot and right onto the highway next to the building. Garrett turned on a song that I vaguely recognized, it had a nice steady beat with a pretty female voice. He had his window rolled down and his music up loud. The wind was playing with his hair in a way that was unfair as we sped down the highway, most likely breaking the law. He looked breathtaking.

Roses by The Chainsmokers. That was the song, as soon as I heard the ‘say you’ll never let me go.”

As the beat dropped, I stole a glance at Garrett and was momentarily captivated. His dusty hair was still blowing in the wind, the moonlight glistening off his glasses and illuminating the pale skin of his arms and shoulders. He had good shoulders and upper arms. He was grinning and halfway murmuring along to the song, he looked over at me and caught my eye. His grin got even bigger and I couldn’t help but grin back widely and giggle as he turned back to the road. 

We eventually pulled up to a Taco Bell, ordered our food in the drive thru and sat in the unreasonably long line. Garrett had turned his music down and looked over at me as we waited.  
“What time is Renee off again?” 

 

“11, we have plenty of time before we have to be back. It’s only 8:30,” I answered, picking at a hangnail on my index finger. 

“Cool, I am HUNGRY,” he sighed, resting his head on the steering wheel as the line showed no signs of moving soon.

The line inched forward as we sat in the comfortable quietness of his music playing in the background. The song I Like Me Better by Lauv came on, and I zoned out into the lyrics while we waited for our order to be ready. I began thinking about what I was really doing in this friendship I had formed with Garrett. 

Garrett Watts was a kind individual. He was a kid at heart. He was obsessed with movies, he liked haunted houses and creepy dolls and thought bugs were really cool. He liked collecting knickknacks and little toys and giving everything a name. He thought everything deserved a chance at life, and refused to kill spiders. He would instead carry them outside gently and tell them to have a good life in the outdoors. He liked breakfast burritos and iced coffee and animals and all of these things wrapped up into one tall, goofy dusty-haired boy who had somehow captured my mostly-closeted attention.

“Earth to Andrew? Food!” Garrett exclaimed, shaking my shoulder and pulling me out of my reverie to reveal a bag sitting in his lap.

I grinned at the sight of the brown bag, and we divvied up the food between us. We pulled away and sat in a spot in the parking lot as we started eating.

“Eating is so good,” Garrett moaned. He LITERALLY moaned as he said that and took a bite of his Crunch Wrap. I felt something stir inside my chest (and my pants) when I heard it and had to remind myself to chill.

“Yes, it is.”

We ate as his music continued on in the background, and then drove back to the hotel. When we arrived back, he lit up a joint and passed it over to me.

“So we still have a couple of hours before Renee wants to chill with us, wanna come back to my room and watch a movie or something?”

“Yeah that sounds good.”

I was actually nervous as hell. I had never really spent time inside a guest room, beyond the occasional minor maintenance issue and inspecting rooms when housekeeping needed help. The idea of hanging out in a room at my own work was weird as hell to me.

“Oh, and since you’re in your work clothes still you can borrow a t-shirt of mine so you’re not so uncomfortable in that button up,” he added on as we passed the joint back and forth. “Although you do look handsome in that color.”

My heart sped up and I felt the usual rush of redness flood into my cheeks and neck. Garrett called me handsome. Garrett called me handsome, and I was going to freak out. He hadn’t ever said anything like that to me before and it felt so nice and validating to hear those words come out of his mouth.

“That’d be great,” I managed to choke out. I think he caught how flustered I was, because he smirked slightly at that.

We finished the joint and walked up to the building and over to his room. We used the side door entrance so I wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame past Renee, thank god. When we reached his room he made a beeline over to the closet to look for a t-shirt.

“Is this one okay?” he asked, pulling out a long sleeve black shirt with the PlayStation logo on it.

I nodded and he tossed me the shirt. I went into the bathroom to go change, and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I pulled the shirt over my head. I was about due for a haircut, my wavy red hair was getting really long on the sides. I usually liked it short on the sides and longer on top, the classic white boy cut. My eyes had dark circles underneath. Probably from the fact that I had been hanging out with Garrett until well after midnight almost every single night since we met. I splashed my face with some cold water from the sink to try and cool myself down and make my cheeks look less flushed.

I came back out of the bathroom after wiping my face off to see Garrett laying across the bed all casually, scrolling through his Netflix on his PlayStation.

“Any opinions on movies?” he asked, glancing up at me and smiling.

“Not really, whatever you want.”

I gingerly sat on the edge of the bed and rested my back against the pillow. Garrett rolled his eyes and motioned for me to come next to him. I did so reluctantly, and kicked my shoes off over the edge. He started Kill Bill, and we lay there in silence for a moment.

“Hey Andrew?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you about something?”

My heart stopped.

“Y-yeah, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to talk about why I’ve been staying here and why it’s so indefinite when I’ll be leaving. It’s been weighing on me a lot and I think it might help if I told someone what’s actually happening.”

I nodded, and sat in silence waiting for him to continue.

“You know that I’m gay. I lived in an apartment with an ex of mine a couple years ago, and my parents had no idea. They thought he was just a roommate. We broke up, and my parents thought it was just a falling out between roommates so they let me move back in and I’ve been living there for a while trying to get back on my feet. I hadn’t come out to them yet, and I did the night before I checked in here. My mom tried to be understanding, but my dad was mad as hell. I moved out the next day and brought everything here with me after begging my sister to let me borrow her discount.”

He let that all spill out at once for me to take in. I sat there, nodding my head slowly as I took it all in.

“So how permanent is this hotel situation then?”

“Until I find a roommate. I can’t afford to live on my own and $39 a night for a hotel is a lot cheaper than a 1 bedroom in LA. I make decent money at the clinic but it’s just not enough to be able to justify living on my own.”

We talked about his situation and his family for the next couple of hours until we realized it was 10:45, which meant Renee was going to be off of work soon. I really felt for him though, and I wished that I could do something to help his situation.

“Wanna go get Renee?” I asked, glancing at the clock. We were still half-laying on the bed next to each other. It was comfortable.

He nodded, and we stood up. As he walked around the bed to meet me by the door, he placed his hand on my shoulder while we walked out. I wasn’t sure if it was a subconscious thing or if it was on purpose but I wanted more of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will never get this whole "formatting" thing down i swear. Follow on tumblr, sweetsiwicki.tumblr.com <3

**Author's Note:**

> CC and feedback of any kind is always welcome! <3 I’m also on tumblr @sweetsiwicki


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